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With regard to Itanium, you mentioned that everyone but Sun [Microsystems Inc.] and Apple [Computer Inc.] is selling Itanium. But HP may be selling 90 percent of all Itaniums. Do you need to do better with other OEMs?
Sure. Im not agreeing with your numbers by the way. Theyre off. Weve got IBM, Bull, all the Japanese guys something like 80 systems by the end of the year, from a variety of different OEMs.
Your famous memo to employees of a few months back, was it successful? Are you seeing the kind of behavior you would like to see?

I wish that I hadnt had to write it, but I think it served as a useful wake-up call. All our organizations within Intel have taken the issue of performance seriously. They all have plans in place and are all executing those plans. I think the memo served a useful purpose.

So things are where they should be at this point? Theres no need for a follow-up memo?
A follow-up memo to that one would beunfortunate [laughter].
Are you going to become chairman when Paul Otellini takes over?
It would be presumptuous of me to announce anything before the board of directors of Intel does.
Click here to read about Barretts keynote speech on dual-core design at the Gartner Symposium.What are you going to work on in the next six months to leave behind a legacy to Paul?
Exactly what Im working on today: the growth of our communications business, the convergence of computing and wireless, expansion internationally, and process technology manufacturing leadership. The strengths of Intel are process technology, manufacturing, architecture, worldwide sales presencebrandand Intel capital. Those are the five things Im working on today, and those are the five things Ill be working on for the next six months.
In your remarks, you mentioned that enthusiasm for IT is greater in all the countries you visit than in the United States. Theres less interest in the country that is driving [IT innovation]. Where did the interest fall off?
If anything, the interest and enthusiasm got diverted into the biomedical area. If you look at NIHs [National Institutes of Healths] budget over the last five years, it has about doubled. The real challenge there is: Lets say my child has cancerthat is powerful. Its life. Its your family. Its trivial to get funding for that, and its nearly impossible to get funding for anything else.
I anger all my buddies in the agricultural states when I point out we can put $25 billion in agricultural subsidies, just like that, without even thinking. But what is going to drive the economy? Is it wheat or corn? Its kind of depressing not to have either Bush or Kerry talk about itneither of them. You go to their Web sites and you get pablum, like, "Im going to make the United States more competitive." Oh really?
But will there be some sort of event to make people rearrange their priorities?
You have signposts. You have a road map already. Western Europe is your road map. You see the slow, persistent decay of competitivenessin France and Germany in particular. It has resulted in essentially stagnant growth and double-digit unemployment. ... Im not asking that the government get into the technology management area. K-12 education is a ticking time bomb. Thats the greatest danger the United States has. Second, fix the R&D investment. Get aggressive about infrastructure. It took Bush three and a half years to say "broadband."
And then recognize that the rest of the world is treating investments in technology as investments in the future. And the United States treats investments in technology as corporate welfare.
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Stan Gibson is Executive Editor of eWEEK. In addition to taking part in Ziff Davis eSeminars and taking charge of special editorial projects, his columns and editorials appear regularly in both the print and online editions of eWEEK. He is chairman of eWEEK's Editorial Board, which received the 1999 Jesse H. Neal Award of the American Business Press. In ten years at eWEEK, Gibson has served eWEEK (formerly PC Week) as Executive Editor/eBiz Strategies, Deputy News Editor, Networking Editor, Assignment Editor and Department Editor. His Webcast program, 'Take Down,' appeared on Zcast.tv. He has appeared on many radio and television programs including TechTV, CNBC, PBS, WBZ-Boston, WEVD New York and New England Cable News. Gibson has appeared as keynoter at many conferences, including CAMP Expo, Society for Information Management, and the Technology Managers Forum. A 19-year veteran covering information technology, he was previously News Editor at Communications Week and was Software Editor and Systems Editor at Computerworld.